Traders are happy with GST: CAIT tells RaGa.

Nagpur: A traders’ body representing small businessmen, mainly retailers, has raised an objection against Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s statement calling GST  as ‘Gabbar Singh Tax’. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), in a letter to Gandhi, has said it finds the statement highly deplorable.

CAIT has said that traders do not have any problem with the GST rather the tax regime has freed them from ‘inspector raj’ that was prevalent when earlier systems were in force. It appears that Congress wants to get political gains by using the traders, says the letter issued by CAIT. 

The letter says it must be noted that tax system is implemented through the GST Council which also has representation from state governments ruled by Congress. Although, in the initial months of GST implementation traders faced several problems as it was a new system. However, following initiatives taken by the government subsequently, the tax system was simplified to a great extent. It further says the biggest relief to the traders is from continuous ‘inspector raj’ and massive paper work of the earlier regime.

The government has considered several representation made by the traders’ associations besides lowering the tax rates of a number of items. The threshold limit has also been extended to Rs40 lakh to keep small traders out of the ambit of the GST, says CAIT.

The association has stressed that by and large the trading community is satisfied with the GST and hopes a few of the remaining issues will be addressed. 

Reacting to the development, chartered accountant and GST practitioner Pritam Mahure said GST is an economic policy jointly implemented by the state and Centre. It should not be used to make political gains. “If the opposition parties had a better solution than GST, they should have come up with the proposal,” he said.

Kailash Jogani, former president of Nagpur Chamber of Commerce Limited (NCCL), said GST cannot be abolished at this stage. “The only possibility remains is to bring suitable amendments in it,” he added.

BC Bhartia, national president of CAIT, said traders should rather remain non-committal over such policy issues. The very concept of GST was mooted by Congress and with 100% credit on input taxes, the prices of commodities have certainly come down, he said.